Monday, September 16, 2013

AH, the Gypsy Life...

We just got back from a big ol' trip...I choose not to post until I got back...
I suppose for the safety of it...
These next few posts were written in the last few weeks.


 
Getting ready...getting ready...getting ready!!  Yep, we are going on a trip.  Not just another Girly Trip, but an All-By-Ourselves-1/2-Way-Across-The-Country-The-OTHER-Way Trip.  A Learning Journey (as my brother will call it by the time it is finished). 
 
This trip is SO exciting to me.  I have always loved to travel.  In the last few years, much of our travel has kept me sane, giving me new places to see, different routines to follow, other people to talk to.  In a sense, this trip will provide all of that.
 
I crave being out there, out from under my standard; get up, get ready, drink tea, make breakfast, do dishes, check bedrooms, start school, correct child, random chore, teach somebody, correct paper, fold laundry, make dinner, take out trash, feed dog, make sure kids bathe, pray, put kids in bed, watch random TV, sleep, get up and do it again.  That daily routine that shapes my world and makes all things right when we are at home begins to chafe, to feel like bars on a cage, and my wanderlust kicks in.  I fully expect this trip to provide that gypsy escapism.

But there is another aspect.  This trip, by and large, is mine.

The majority of other trips that I've taken in my life were taken with someone or because of something else.  Except maybe my honeymoon, my honeymoon was completely ours.  Before that most of my trips were my parent's trips or I joined friends on their trips...and after that...well, I can't think of any trips that I planned just because *I* wanted to go.  We went on trips when friends got married, we went to family reunions, we went to visit family and friends, there were holidays and vacations with favorite people.  And I don't want to belittle those amazing experiences in any way.  But before now there has only been ONE trip that I planned just because *I* wanted to go, and that one was only 45 hours long.  This one will be between 15 and 17 DAYS.

This is the trip that I decided to go the long way 'round.  There is not one single "HAVE" to on this trip.  There are a couple of "can't waits" and "We'll probably want to leave early to get there in time fors" and there are several "No Plan todays".  But I think the biggest cage-bar-breaker of it all for me is how well I know this trip because it's all mine...every road choice...every hotel...every sandwich...every CD...MINE.

Except for 3 days.  We have a 3 day camping trip tucked right into the middle, with a very old friend (the composer) and his kids.  He's got that planned.  See that's HIS trip...we just get to intersect.  Those 3 days are MY break.  I get to relax, sit by the camp fire, drink wine, and talk to my friend.  It's a total "can't wait".

My thirst for adventure is beginning to eat into my desire to pack everything just so, which is problematic because on the road, I'll want to know where everything is.  But I love the excitement of the preparing, too.  It gives a different cadence to the daily-ness of the days and makes even the most mundane tasks sparkle a little.

I love to blog trips...you know I do.  But I also hate the pressure of trying to blog and keep up with the fun.  So I have no idea what you can expect now that I've determined to write. 

I expect I'll eventually write...but for now, I've really gotta find my bathing suit...

See ya around...

 

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